April 5, 2004 - The Hibbing Daily Tribune: Char Novak packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps and would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Niger: Peace Corps Niger : The Peace Corps in Niger: April 5, 2004 - The Hibbing Daily Tribune: Char Novak packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps and would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.178.137) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 6:13 pm: Edit Post

Char Novak packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps and would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger

Char Novak packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps and would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger

Char Novak packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps and would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger

African reunion
By PATRICK ETHRIDGE
The Daily Tribune
Last Updated: Monday, April 05th, 2004 01:07:44 PM


BANI BANGOU, Niger — Catherine Novak always wanted her daughters to be happy.

Little did she know her little girls would grow up and find that happiness on the other side of the world, in a tiny African village.

For sisters Char Novak and Mary Norman, their reunion in Niger was fate.

“I think our sister Bobbie had something to do with it,” said Norman.

Bobbie Jo Baraga died of cancer on March 26, 2000.

A year later Novak quit her job as an administrative secretary, packed her clothes, left her home and joined the Peace Corps.

“I was sitting at my job for 20 years and was about 35 pounds heavier and I was bored,” recalls Novak. “I always wanted to do the Peace Corps in the 70s but I had kids. I didn’t want to celebrate my 50th birthday saying ‘what if’ and being bored.”

She would eventually land in Bani Bangou, Niger, a small village of 250 people, located 90 kilometers from the capitol city of Niambey.

More than a year later, Mary followed her older sister to Niger, on a two-week mission with Rotary International aimed at fighting polio.

The sisters would spend two weeks together caring for residents of the village, and strengthening their relationship.

“Before she died our sister (Bobbie) made us promise we would go to Africa,” said Norman. “She had been there three times with her husband. We kind of looked at her and said ‘yeah right.’ I know my sister was up there with the boss telling Him what needed to be done.

“At night we’d sit around and have a beer and start to cry. Here we were, three years after our other sister had died, together in Africa. I guess it’s one of those miracles or testimonials that there is a God and he does work. For two weeks I got to give my sister a kiss good night and tell her I love her, I had never been able to do that. We just reconnected, I think the second part of our life is going to be so much better.”

When Mary’s two weeks were finished, she returned to her job as a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in South Bend, Ind.

Meanwhile, Char completed her tour with the Peace Corps and returned to Minnesota on March 10.

Both admit there’s a good chance they’ll return to Africa someday.

“I turned 50 when I was over there and the average age is 23-27,” said Novak. “I went over there and my village didn’t have any drinking water at all. It took until four days before I left (two years later) to come up with a clean drinking system.”

Though she’s glad to be back in Minnesota to see her family, she’s uncertain what the future will hold.

“I’m not going to sit behind a desk again,” she said. “I got home and I’m sitting in this apartment with all these amenities, just a month ago I was sitting in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere. As I look back on it I just weep. The children don’t even have clothes, if there is no rain there is no food. I just have to go back, these people are so beautiful and they have less than nothing.”

Her sister was also impressed with the people of Niger.

“It made me sick to know when I came home at Christmas time we have everything here and it’s still not enough,” she said. “You really get a sense of how blessed and fortunate you are. I also recognized the strength of the human spirit. Those people have life expectancy of 42 years old. Those little girls will have 8 babies and 3 to 4 will die. Yet they were so happy and so content because they didn’t realize what they didn’t have.”

Both Char (a 1971 Hibbing High graduate), and Mary (1973) are planning a trip home to see parents Charlie and Catherine within the next month.

“I’m happy for the girls,” said Catherine. “I’m happy that they’re doing things they like. They’re good kids. (Char) always sounded so happy in the letters she sent. Even as a kid she tried to help everybody. I was at Mary’s visiting when she found out she was going through Rotary. I wish they’d have picked me, I would like to do something like that.”

Char is already looking forward to the day she can return to Niger.

“I’m going to take some French studies for a good year or so and then see if I can go back,” she said. “There’s always work to be done. Two-thirds of Niger is desert and most of it is inhabitable but those people have been there for generations. It’s like Sam Kennison used to say, we need to get a bunch of U-Hauls and move these people out.”

When Novak does return, she might just have a shadow following close behind.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll cash in and go with her,” said Norman.

“We really haven’t sat down and talked about it. I think sometimes people need to check out. It’s not about things, it’s about what you’ve done and who you’ve touched in your life.”

Char added, “It’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.”




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Story Source: The Hibbing Daily Tribune

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Niger

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